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GUJARAT
NRE Coke, one of the largest low-ash metallurgical coke makers,
has decided to raise the price of coke by as much as Rs 1,500
a tonne. In the past few months, the company’s bottomline
was being affected due to low coke demand. However, the company
claims that the demand for coke is now picking up because
of an increase in orders from steel manufacturers.
“We
have raised the price of coke from Rs 7,500 per tonne to Rs
9,000 per tonne from Monday,” Gujarat NRE Coke vicechairman
& managing director Arun Jagatramka said. Since January,
the company’s coke unit in Kutch has been operating
at just 40% capacity. “We reduced our capacity to maintain
our profitability on the back of falling prices,” Jagatramka
said. The company’s current production capacity is one
million tonnes a year and is being fed by its Australian coal
mine it acquired last year.
Gujarat NRE Coke is in the process of investing $60 million
to fund its various expansion plans in Kutch and Dharvad in
Karnataka. The expansion includes a Rs 100-crore investment
in a 40 mw power plant. In addition, the company will also
invest Rs 120 crore in setting up wind turbines of 25 mw.
Gujarat NRE Coke operates 27.5 mw of wind power in Gujarat.
“The work is on in both the projects and we also hope
to claim carbon credit under the Kyoto protocol agreement
from the windmill project,” Jagatramka said. The company
is looking for a long-term source of scrap steel for its new
steel unit in Kutch that commenced operations in December
last year. Gujarat NRE Coke is primarily using sponge iron
for steel making and has only bought three scrap consignments
in high sea.
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